Two millennia before the wizards of Otanic could keep the kingdom safe from Harpin or the monsters living in the Barrens, Tressa found herself trapped in those Barrens. She became the first human to discover a mysterious stone that seemed to call out to her as it concentrated the planet’s mystical power within its twelve identical sides.

It takes days to escape the Barrens while the eight-legged monsters chase her to prevent one of their master’s stones from being taken. Eventually, a gravely wounded Tressa reaches her home with a gangrenous leg. But when the monsters come to reclaim the stone, the townspeople brand her a traitor despite losing her leg. Tressa must learn to use that concentrated magical power to save them all.

"The First Defenders"

by Kevin P Hallett